


The Trial of Knowing

by HolmesianDeduction



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Illness, Palladium Poisoning, Secrets, tony stark - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-26
Updated: 2012-10-26
Packaged: 2017-11-17 01:39:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/546220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolmesianDeduction/pseuds/HolmesianDeduction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony's been careful to hide his health from everyone, but Pepper's known the whole time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Trial of Knowing

             When Tony finally tells her, Pepper Potts acts surprised, shocked even, and lets him have it.  In the adrenaline rush that comes with being sore at Tony Stark, she almost tricks herself into believing that it's new news.

             In reality, she's known for months.  She doesn't know how Tony expected to keep a secret this momentous from the person who spent years keeping everything around him running almost single-handedly.  Maybe he didn't - maybe he wanted her to find out, to force him to talk about it.  Except she didn't.  She waited, thinking - no, not thinking, she knew better -  _hoping_ that just this once, he might not be so damn stubborn as to think that he could do it all on his own.

             So she watched.  Watched as the slow signs crept into view - things that Tony either didn't think to hide or didn't think she would notice.  Not just the more-than-usual recklessness, but the sharp decline in appetite, the frequent headaches - as if she didn't notice how much Tylenol they were running through, the stranger than usual behaviour.  She conferred with Rhodey - who confirmed some things she knew and others that she didn't, and could sometimes go where she could not.

             But still he said nothing, and she pretended that she didn't know.  Not because she didn't want to help, but because somehow she knew that this was beyond even her reach, and that Tony would either ask for help when he absolutely had to, or he would solve it and never tell her.  And so Pepper watched and waited, hoping to one day walk into the workshop and see that pained half-smile and the serious eyes above it that always stood in for the words he never seemed willing to say.

_I need your help on this one, okay?_


End file.
